Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Smart home company announces 15 new partners for its Works with Nest developer platform

Smart thermostat maker Nest has announced a range of new partners that will see its products expand into more areas of the home.

The company revealed 15 new partners for its “Works with Nest” open-source software developer program at the CES event in Las Vegas, including tie-ups with the likes of August, LG, and Philips Hue.

The new deals will mean that Nest customers can now pair their smart thermostat with a wider range of items around their home, including light bulbs, washing machine and even door locks.

Warming

For example, the partnership with lock maker August means that unlocking or locking your door will automatically put your thermostat into either Home or Away mode. LG smart ovens will now be able to know when you left the house and send you an alert if you left the oven on by accident, whilst the company’s fridges can go into energy saving mode when a user has left the house.

Some of the deals also include Nest Protect, which looks to safeguard the home via smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. If high levels are detected, then an enabled Ooma smart home phone will dial a local emergency service while the Philips Hue lightbulbs will flash different colours.

Nest’s other partnerships include Automatic, Insteon, Lutron, and Withings, with the other deals, including Beep, Big Ass Fans, Chargepoint, Osram, Stack, Zuli, and Whirlpool, set to go live in either February or March.

Nest, which was bought by Google for $3.2bn (£2bn) last January, and opened up Works with Nest six months later. The company says thousands of businesses have expressed an interest in joining the program, which looks to cover all areas of home automation in an attempt to promote smart living and energy saving.